Pours a clear, dark yellow color with a solid off-white head a full inch high. Retention is OK, dropping to a slightly clumpy, thick film. Some good, if spotty, lace.
Smell is hoppy, floral, some apple and straw notes. Well balanced but could be more complex.
Taste is hops, malt, floral, alcohol - warming, not burning - with some pine notes. Well balanced and not a West Coast hop bomb.
Medium bodied, lighter than expected carbonation. Warming and surprisingly smooth. A very good IPA, indeed.

A subtle IPA all around. A clear paler gold with a creamy white head with decent retention. Significant lacing. The aroma is dialed back with only slight caramel notes. The taste, while also subtle, is good. Caramel and slight floral notes. A little thinner in the palette with a slight fizz to it. A good IPA that's easy drinking despite its bigger abv.

Brewer that never lets us down. Back on 1-23-16. One of the great IPAs. Try 24. Again on 8-7-16, I found this beer again astounding.

A - Perfect, with a dense white head, that lasts and laces up a stained glass window down the .5 l glass

S - Subtle, pleasing balance of malt, citrus, & bitter hop, but too subtle to be outstanding as the balance of these beer's attributes.

T - Not subtle, big sweet malt up front, that's followed by flowers, grapefruit and pine; Interesting see-saw of sweet and bitter, with a bit more sweetness than most IPAs. Still a clean tingly finish, very well made, very see-saw, and enjoyable.

Presentation: Very cool label in the GLBC tradition with awesome artwork, graphics, and font. Label states “Gold Medal Winner World Beer Championships”, gives small back story of the beer, ABV info, web info, serving temp recommendation, small bit of brewery info, Enjoy By Date (9/18/13). Neck label has a small description of the beer and GLBC logo. 25th Anniversary Cap.

Appearance: An aggressive pour from its 12oz brown bottle into a 16oz English pint led to a 4 finger off white head of a light airy density atop a very transparent light golden orange beer. Head retention was excellent at 5min 30sec before fading to a thick frothy coating and ring with excellent lacing.

Smell/Aroma: Smells of sweet orange citrus hops with a slight floral hint. Also has a very nice spicy malt scent.

Flavor/Taste: Flavor is of a very sweet orange citrus hop flavor with a bit of spiciness on the front end. Hop bitterness turns piney/resin at midpoint and lingers around turning to a earthy piney finish. All resting atop a bready caramel malt back bone. Has a very bitter aftertaste.

Overall/Comments: An all around excellent beer from GLBC that is amazingly well balanced and easy drinking. A fine example of the style and a must try IPA. Classified as an English IPA @ 7.5% ABV. Consumed 8/3/2013.

Among my favorite IPAs. Yes, I am quite biased in favor of Great Lakes Brewing Company because one of my best friends worked there for nine years and I've spent many a fine afternoon/evening at the place. But my preference for GLBC beer is primarily because the beers are almost always outstanding. Cheers!

I like IPA's. They seem to be my style of choice since I've grown to accustomed to bold hoppy flavors. That being said I'm not that big on English IPA's.
This is a good version of the English IPA though I believe the ABV's are a bit high.
In this version the aroma is malty and sweet with a sutle floral hop presence.
The apperance is a lighter amber and is quite clear. The head produced on the pour was small and faded quickly.
Taste is malty for the most part, caramel malts and toffee. Hops are light and for the most part really just bitter the beer.
Drinks medium on the palate but I've noticed that after the dry bitterness, some astringency.
Overall it's a good representation of the style. I think it would be quite nearly dead on if it was casked.

Really malt heavy,,, bitter hops used.. Pours a clean crisp gold hues very clear... it is crisp dry fiunish with rich bitter hops taste....theere is little to no head.. it is somewhat rich and thick but not overwhelmingly... overall a great IPA but not my style im more into the fruity IPA.. great bitter hoppy taste... with dry finish..rich malty overtones... great englsh IPA...

Pours a pale orange with a fluffy, slowly dissipating one-finger head. Moderate lacing. Aroma of orange zest and honey. More malt character than hop.
Taste starts out slightly sweet with caramel notes. Slight hop bitterness at the finish. Light to medium bodied with good carbonation. A nice change from American IPAs!

Great tasting ipa.I believe I will look for this beer again.Excellent citrus aroma and strong hops flavor.Not surprised though it was the last of its stock on shelf.the hops flavor was near perfect bitter,that I enjoy. but also just sweet enough to compliment a great steak.

A smooth tasting and overall good IPA that goes down well. It does not carry too much bite as an IPA and I would bet that it would be an awesome beer to go with a steak or ribs. This is easily my favorite of the beers from the Great Lakes Brewing Company. Give it a try.

This hot dog thing is a very unique beer for Raul. When he poured it into the teku, the bad boi glowed like Rita Hayworth when she flipped her hair back in "Gilda" - wowie zowie to say the least.

Taste is unique because Raul ain't sure if it is an IPA or a Pale Lager. Regardless, Raul is enjoying its smooth textures and light hoppy/orange flavors. It kind of makes Raul want to rejoice - not exactly scream in rejoice - just rejoice.

Poured into the glass with a nice head. Smell had citrus notes, but caramel malt prevailed, especially for an IPA. Taste was malty with a significant bittering hop profile. Mouth feel was outstanding! For me, a substantial beer (7.5% abv) in alcohol content and flavor that establishes this beer as a "stand alone" more than a session. Great Lakes does it again :)

Poured a brilliant gold with nice bubbling coming from the bottom. A nice white head that has some lacing. The head went down to a thin layer by the time I got half way through.

Nose is floral, citrus and spice but not real strong.

Taste I found to be quite balanced and enjoyable. A slightly above average dose of citrus hops with some citrus peel finish and a hint of malt. A rather full mouth feel for an English style. Overall, I found this beer quite a pleasure to drink.

I purchased this six pack at the local company that just purchased Harris Teeter for around $8 or $9. Poured from a 12oz bottle into a 12oz pint glass obtained from a bar somewhere. (you know one of those pint glasses that only holds a pint if you fill it over the edge but holds twelve ounces just right??).

My glass was chilled and my beer was cold, and it poured a 1/2" creamy looking head that quickly faded. In the slightly maroon dark amber liquid, carbonation could be seen rising to the top in linear streams through the glass. This "streaming" lasting till I was about half way complete, leaving rings on the glass for nearly every drink and leaving me with a feeling of accomplishment in a job well done.

As for smell, I must be out of it, or my beer is too cold as I don't really smell anything. There's a hint of some floral but as to what floral I couldn't pick out of a line up to save my life. It's not off putting in anyway, and after multiple sips, it's more inviting.

Normally I'm finicky about IPA's, sometimes they're too hoppy for me, other times not, and on few occasions I can't pick out the hops. But this, on this evening, this taste is just right, but not quite up into the skirt blowing regions of my taste buds. Nevertheless a very good mix of hops and sweetness. Like other reviewers, the hops hit me first, and I too feel it's well balanced. I can also see where others call it caramel'esque, as for myself - this makes sense when trying to put my finger on the sweetness.

Mouthfeel, I'm rating high, for the fact alluded to earlier the crispness of the beer stays with me throughout the pull. Some reviewers don't like that, but myself I like my beers cold, and that crispness enhances the coolness of the beer for me. I'm rarely a fan of creamy beers and this is not that. Grade A+

Overall, this is another good beer from Great Lakes. It's up my ally for IPA's to where it's one of my favorites of this style. In a paragraph above, I mention about this beer leaving me with a sense of accomplishment, well it did, but now I want to accomplish something else, so I'm going to get another one.

Pours amber with an orange tint and brilliant clarity. Small off white head that fell to an oily film and ring. Effervescing and luminous. Left sticky lace in dabs and patches. Freshness date reads 8/29/13. Nose is sweet with soft citrus and floral. Ripe mango, peach a whiff of melon and some nice sweet grapefruit. Fruits intensify as it warms. Slightly nutty cereal grain malt. Dry and toasted with a drizzle of honey sweetness to back it up. There's a touch of alcohol on the nose. Taste is smooth. Soft ripe fruits meet light biscuit. The malt is good and full and gives great balance to all the ripe fruit. It has big sweetness that balances a substantial hop bitter that kicks in on the back palate and takes a minute before it realizes it's peak. A little biscuit and honey show up one last time for a dry finish of light pine, faint nutty flavor, light resin and some alcohol which adds to the dryness.

This is a second rating. Great Lakes has reputation in my house for making exciting and exceptional beers and this one, lived up to my expectations. It approached outstanding but the alcohol was too prominent on the palate for it's abv. The nose on this bottle was sweet and juicy, fragrant and fresh. My first rating was on 6/28 and the total score 3.38. If Great Lakes was not such a favorite of mine I would never have sought out the additional bottles to compare. So glad I did.

Classic IPA taste without being heavy despite it's 7.5% ABV. Excellent balance of hop bite and smoothness. Nothing showy...just really well made ale. My only complaint is that I don't want to stop drinking it. This can be not a good thing. Love this ale!

A - Bright Orangey-yellow. Crystal clear, with less than a fingers worth of head that sunk very quick. Not as much lacing as your average IPA would leave.

S - This bad boy was a couple weeks past his enjoy by date, but still tons of spicy hoppy aromas. More piney than citrusy. Mildly floral.

T - Not much different than the smell. The piney hops are the backbone of this beer, supported by some sweetness on the end. Its not a malty sweetness, but rather fruity, and it even tastes like there might be some honey in there. I think they might have overdone it a bit in trying to balance this IPA. Its pretty sweet once you get past the initial hoppy kick. The bitter aftertaste isn't too far behind though. The balance just isn't quite there.

M - Medium bodied and Light to moderate carbonation. Pretty oily.

O - A great IPA. Not perfect, but worth re-visting every now and again.